Conversion To Throttle Body Injection (TBI)


TR6 Home

TBI - 1 Year Later

Emissions Test

TBI Home

Removing Old Stuff

O2 & TPS Sensor

By Pass Block Off

Carb Adapters

Injector Installation

Fuel Tank & Lines

Fuel Pump

Fuel Lines

Distributor

ECM Connections

1st Start Check List

1st Start Results

Driving Impressions

Reliability & Parts

ECM Trouble Codes

Flashing A Chip

 


Driving Impressions

January 23, 2007

Well, the car is still on jack stands as I wait for a new Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). The check engine light gives a trouble code that indicates it is bad. Rick Patton (TPS Supplier) is out in Arizona hob-knobbing with the rich people at the Barrett Jackson Auction and won't be back until Friday. Only Rick could have snow follow him from Maine to Phoenix! In the meantime I'm just content to go out in my 20 degree garage and listen to it start right up with no fuss and settle into a smooth idle.

January 29, 2007

The new TPS arrived at noon so I installed it and got the same engine light and trouble code. What the heck? Rick told me that he has never had a TPS returned to his NAPA store as being bad out of the box and now I've got two! There's has to be something else going on here. I double check everything once again and I've followed the directions to the letter. At idle the reading at the ECM should be 0.5V and at full throttle 4.3V. The initial test is done with the key in the run position with the engine off.  I'm getting a big ZERO. So I decide to wedge a small block in the linkage to force it a little open and re-test it..............0.85V. It works. Then I remember Rick mentioning that you fine tune the idle voltage reading by rotating the TPS driver nut. So I remove the TPS from the bracket and turn the driver nut clockwise about 1/8". Now when I engage the TPS to the driver nut I have to rotate the TPS slightly to fit it in the bracket. Success! A little fiddling and I set it at 0.54V which is the optimum setting. John Wilson subsequently told me that the TPS HAS to be pre-loaded when fitted to the bracket which is what I was doing by rotating it to fit in the bracket.

Now I do the full throttle check and only get 2.55V. I get a mirror and look in the carb and see only about 45 degrees of throttle plate opening instead of 80-90 degrees. Now what? Do I have to adjust the throttle linkage? You shouldn't have to touch your throttle linkage unless it was wrong to begin with. It's time to quit for the day anyway.

January 30, 2007

OK......time to adjust the long control arm linkage. Well that didn't help any so I put it back to its original length and decide to adjust the short control arm..........damn....the throttle plate still isn't opening any farther. As I'm leaning in and pushing the linkage open I hear .........dink. So I work it again and .......dink.....a definite metal on metal......dink. A few more dink dinks and I spot the source. The head of the high speed idle screw is hitting the TPS bracket. The nut side makes it past the bracket but the head doesn't! There's a picture of it here. A few turns of the screw and it clears the bracket and I've got full throttle opening and a good reading on my meter.

Time to re-check everything: timing, idle, fuel pressure, look for any gas leaks, put on air cleaners, get car off of jack stands, tighten all lug nuts, toss fire extinguisher behind driver seat..................now time for a drive!

I'm back from my first drive (just under 100 miles) in a TBI enhanced TR6 and I can't hear anything! Ya see, while working on it, I pulled the passenger seat and carpet out and the rear interior panel isn't in yet and neither is the interior trunk panel. So I'm a big open reverberating box all the way through to the trunk. I can hear the fuel pump, the return gas getting peed back in to the tank, the muffler, lots of road noise, stuff in the trunk...etc...etc. It's LOUD. But the car runs great. Fires right up even though it's been sitting in a very very cold garage. Smooth application of power. Pulls strongly with no hesitation or stumbling. Great throttle response. I can't be more pleased unless I find I'm getting 25 MPG. But that will have to wait for warmer weather. The forecast is for snow tonight and over the weekend. I'd like to get about 200 miles on it before taking it off the road for all the other stuff I want to do this winter. That way I can pull the data and send it John for analysis. Then, if needed, he emails a new program for the chip which I can flash and update the ECM. This is very cool!

On my drive I stopped back at the garage that did my fuel tank work because he wanted to see the whole package. This guy's an old time mechanic and he was blown away by the whole installation and the quality of the components. He really liked Rick's adapters and John's regulator which are both custom milled from billeted aluminum.

January 31, 2007

OK, time to do some "data logging". Basically, I've downloaded a program (WinALDL) to my laptop that captures all kinds of data from the ECM as I'm driving along. John provides the interface cable with one end connecting to the ECM and the other your laptop. I read John's directions again which say "If you are gathering diagnostic data for me, the only one I need to see is the sensor data button."

 
ECM on floor at left & hooked to laptop Program collects 23 different data points as you drive

So off I go on a 40 minute drive that's about 30% around town and 70% on the highway. The laptop is collecting all the data and the car is running great. I get home, check the instructions, click "SAVE" and head back inside. Just like the directions say, there's a small log file now stored on my laptop with all the data. Before I send it off to him, I'm reading a little further on and it says towards the end:  "The only other useful info that I need to see when diagnosing your system is the BLM tables."  Arggghhh Engineers!! So what he really needs to say is that there are TWO pieces of data that he needs. Too late now to head out again.

January 31, 2007

Back in the car, another 40 minute drive, save both pieces of data and email it off to him. I looked at the data in Excel and it seemed strange to me that it didn't change much over the drive, but what do I know?

February 1, 2007

I get an email back from John saying something is wrong, the data doesn't change like it should. After a couple of email exchanges he asks if the WinALDL software settings show the ECM model# as 16144288? I tell him no, because his directions say: "If you are using WINALDL for one of my kits, 99% of the time you'll want to select model# 1227747." Lucky me....I'm in the 1% with a different model# for my ECM.

February 2, 2007

Back in the car for another drive and data logging. This data proved good and he's sent me a new chip file to flash. After the data logging experience, I hope his flashing directions are accurate! I've emailed him to confirm and as soon as I hear back I'll be flashing the update to the chip.

So at this point I have about 150 miles on the car that's about 30% around town and 70% highway. I've gone through, at best, 1/2 a tank of gas, which means I'm getting at least 25 mpg compared to the 15 mpg that I used to get. The car seems quicker with no flat spots around 3000 RPM. Basically, it just keeps pulling through the gears. Drivability is great but I do have to re-learn how to start and drive it. KEEP THE FOOT OFF the gas pedal when turning the key to start the car. And......there's no need to blip the throttle anymore before taking off from a dead stop.....except it sounds way cool to do so.

February 5, 2007

No drive today, it's in the single digits so I think I'll stay inside. John emailed me a new program to flash to the ECM chip. Basically, my data log showed him that the car was a little on the rich side at idle and lean on the high end at 3000 RPM and up. He adjusted the VE tables to get the calibration smoother. The O2 sensor was correcting the mixture but it runs smoother when the O2 sensor doesn't correct anything. Now this is way cool....no need to fiddle with mixture settings on the carbs.....no more hoping you've adjusted them the same....no more....messing it up with your own incompetence.!

So I pulled the chip from the ECM and flashed the chip to the new profile. The directions and pictures are at the "Flashing a Chip" link. Maybe I'll take it for a ride tomorrow and see if I notice any difference.